Image: Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University
Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center and the Anderson Collection are preparing a dense August schedule of exhibition openings and public programs, with four new projects launching at the Cantor and the final days approaching for ‘1,000 Ways to Hold: A new work by Erika Chong Shuch’ at the Anderson Collection. The announcement also points visitors to a slate of hands-on activities, including guided tours, drop-in drawing and story time.
At the Cantor, ‘In Focus: Asian American Art from the Collection’ opens on August 27. The exhibition brings together a selection of works acquired in support of the Asian American Art Initiative, which the museum says advances research, education, community engagement and public access to the work of Asian American and diasporic artists and makers. The museum describes the show as a glimpse into a growing collection, and says the works demonstrate that no single aesthetic, subject matter or historical framework can define Asian American art.
Also opening at the Cantor on August 6 is ‘Carolyn Lazard: Long Take’, an intimate multimedia exhibition that begins with a score for a performance and unfolds through a series of interventions treating accessibility as an artistic material. According to the museum, the central work, ‘Leans, Reverses’, was made in collaboration with dancer Jerron Herman and poet and artist Joselia Rebekah Hughes. The piece grows out of the relationship between a dance performance, its recording and transcription, including a choreographic score, captions and audio description.
Two new Archive Rooms are also set to open on August 6: ‘Irene Poon and Charles Wong’ and ‘Amalia Mesa-Bains’. The Cantor says its Archive Rooms highlight art-historical resources held at Stanford, using single-gallery installations drawn from artist archives in Special Collections at Stanford Libraries. The installations are intended to deepen understanding of artistic process through selected archival materials. An accompanying image in the museum newsletter pairs Charles Wong’s ‘The Lovers’ from 1956 with Amalia Mesa-Bains’ ‘Curandera’s Botanica’ binder.
The Anderson Collection’s ‘1,000 Ways to Hold’ remains on view through August 17. The exhibition is described by Stanford Arts as the culmination of a year-long participatory project by 2025–26 Visiting Artist Erika Chong Shuch. A curator-led tour is scheduled for August 10, from 1 to 2 p.m., with Ellen Oh, director of interdisciplinary arts programs at Stanford Arts. The project, developed in response to loneliness, fragmentation and uncertainty, centers on pairs of people shaping ceramic bowls together and reflecting on the question, ‘What have you held, and what has held you?’
Alongside the exhibition calendar, the Anderson Collection is offering public programs later in the month. ‘Drop-In Drawing’ is scheduled for Fridays, August 14 and 28, from noon to 1 p.m., as a free activity for visitors of all skill levels. ‘Museum Minis: Storytime at the Anderson’ takes place on August 17 from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. for children ages 0–5 and their caregivers. The newsletter says the storytime will feature books inspired by line, color, shape and texture, and that the session ends with a light snack and time to connect.
